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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS COMMENTARY BY ALIZA MARCUS Aliza Marcus‏ @AlizaMarcus 28m28 minutes ago – Looks like PUK & KDP trying to agree on joint strategic vision on issues like relations with Turkey, Iran etc. will be interesting to see if they can come up with something concrete & stick to it By Rudaw – 21 Jan […]

Erdogan at crossroad in Syria – by AL MONITOR 21 Jan 2019 – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Jan. 23 to try to reset Turkey’s flailing Syria policy. Putin wants the Syrian government to take control of eastern Syria, and eventually the entire country, following the […]

CIA Director Sends Warning to Top General Soleimani

CIA Director Mike Pompeo has said that he sent a warning letter to Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Qods Force, over Iranian operations in Iraq. Pompeo told a defense forum in California on Saturday that he made clear Washington will hold Tehran responsible for any attacks on U.S. interests by Iranian-supported forces: I sent a note. I sent it because he had indicated that forces under his control might in fact threaten U.S. interests in Iraq. He refused to open the letter — didn’t break my heart to be honest with you.

The exchange follows the defeat of the Islamic State in three years of battles in Iraq, which have included both Iranian and US units and advisors. The Qods Force is responsible for foreign operations of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The Fars agency, close to the Guards, cited an Iranian military official that “our commander refused to receive the letter, saying we don’t have anything in common to talk about”. On October 22, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Iran to halt its backing of mainly-Shia Iraqi militias, known as Popular Mobilization Units, saying it was time for Iranian military advisors and fighters “to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control…now that the fight against [the Islamic State] is coming to a close”. www.mesop.de